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deferent

1 American  
[def-er-uhnt] / ˈdɛf ər ənt /

adjective

  1. marked by or showing deference.

    She was always deferent to her elders.
deferent 2 American  
[def-er-uhnt] / ˈdɛf ər ənt /

adjective

Anatomy.

  1. conveying away; efferent.

  2. of or relating to the vas deferens.

noun

  1. Astronomy. (in the Ptolemaic system) the circle around the earth in which a celestial body or the center of the epicycle of its orbit was thought to move.

deferent 1 British  
/ ˈdɛfərənt /

adjective

  1. (esp of a bodily nerve, vessel, or duct) conveying an impulse, fluid, etc, outwards, down, or away; efferent

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

  1. astronomy (in the Ptolemaic system) a circle centred on the earth around which the centre of the epicycle was thought to move

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
deferent 2 British  
/ ˈdɛfərənt /

adjective

  1. another word for deferential

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of deferent1

First recorded in 1815–25; defer 2 + -ent

Origin of deferent2

1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin dēferent- (stem of dēferēns ), present participle of dēferre. See defer 2, -ent

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.